K’taka bypolls: Cong-JD(S) clean sweeps in assembly seats

Congress and the Janata DalSecular (JD-S) alliance has won both the assembly seats in Karnataka in the recently held by-polls.

Elections in the three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies were held on November 3. JD (S) leader and Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s first wife Anitha Kumaraswamy won from Ramanagara assembly seat by a margin of 109137 votes, while Congress leader AS Nyamagouda bagged Jamakhandi assembly seat by nearly 40-thousand votes by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rival Srikant Kulkarni.

Following the result of the by-polls in the state, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the victory of CongressJD(S) alliance indicates that the people have rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

“People have rejected the BJP. It is also a rejection of Prime Minister Modi’s government. The by-poll results will send a message to the entire country that the time for change has come,” he said.

Karnataka Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar also expressed contentment with the result and said that the victory will give a direction to the people of the country. He further took a potshot at the BJP and said that Ram Temple cannot be a poll plank in the southern states.

“I think as far as southern India is concerned, one cannot make Ram Mandir and all those issues a political plank. People are looking at what they are going to get, what benefit they are going to get in a social and economic sector, administration and transparency,” Shivakumar said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate BY Raghavendra and son of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa defeated his rival Madhu Bangarappa of Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) by a margin of 52,148 votes in Shimoga Lok Sabha by-poll.